Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton met Nelson Mandela on Mandela's 90th birthday. Mandela told him, "I'm still learning." That's great advice for all.
Share freely and be open to new information from sport and other disciplines. Everyone has different ideas.
1. "We are here to fight, not to count." General Alexander Suvorov was an 18th century general ahead of his time. His belief in training, in pushing forward, and caring well for his troops separated him from his peers. Don Meyer said it this way, "It's about how we play, not whom we play."
2. Elite Canadian coach Dave Smart reminds us, "Every day is player development day." What are we doing to improve ourselves today? (Reminder, develop a drill book.)
3. Become more efficient. Nick Saban asks, "are you investing your time or spending it?" Efficiency translates to success. Practice at a higher tempo. Condition within drills, work special situations into scrimmaging (O-D-O offense-defense-offense three possession games).
4. Give specific advice but be flexible in how players accomplish it. They have to figure it out.
5. Be positive. Nobody was more positive than my high school coach, Sonny Lane. We lost a home game by two points to the defending state champion. He said, "the only reason you lost was because it said LEXINGTON on their jersey. We won't lose to them again." Rollie Massimino had built Lexington into a powerhouse. We crushed them by 18 at their place and beat them in overtime in the Sectional Championship at Boston Garden.
6. Cultivate "the soul of a poet and the skin of an elephant." Has every player and parent agreed with our decisions? Of course not. At a recent volleyball end-of-season banquet, Coach Scott Celli reminded attendees about the Wooden doctrine, "every decision I make will not always be in the best interest of a player but what's best for the team." That advice helped his teams earn over 500 victories.
7. Listen a lot. Simon Sinek explained that Nelson Mandela often attended meetings with his father. Mandela's father allowed others to speak first and offered his opinions after weighing the pros and cons of other arguments.
8. Focus. Attention is a skill. Journalist Bob Woodward kept a sign on his desk, FAA, focus and act aggressively. Sports performance expert Dr. Fergus Connolly describes the process to focus, maintain attention, and process information. The first price we pay is to pay attention. Mindfulness builds focus.
9. Classify our talent (privately). I think of players (from middle school to pros) in terms of lottery picks, first rounders, second rounders, or free agents (relative to peers). It's rare to have lottery pick talent in middle or high school. If you have a lot of second rounders and free agents, if you can't develop them to move up a grade, winning will be a big challenge. Which gets us back to player development...
10. "Never be a child's last coach." If our coaching turns players off that much, we're doing it wrong.
11.Follow the Prime Directive. Every parent's Prime Directive is "the well-being of our child comes before the team." Recognize that emotion and satisfaction flow from that perspective.
12.Stop and think. Ron Howard says, "the director is the keeper of the story." Every action should advance the story, which might include backing off for our athletes both physically and mentally. Less can be more.
Lagniappe (something extra). Good teams apply and defeat pressure. In the high school scrimmage video (excerpt recently), Chelmsford struggled against the press. They went to the 1-4 press break for the second half.
Summary:
- Be positive.
- Advance the story. Keep pushing forward.
- Focus on development.
- Master listening.
- Learn to focus.
- Remember the Prime Directive.
Lagniappe 2. Baylor zone offense. They like to enter the ball into the middle and distribute from there.
Lagniappe 3. Development tip from Coach Hanlen. Less can be more...find one that works for you.
